From falling oil prices to the ongoing impact of climate change, there will be no shortage of energy and environment news in the coming months. The Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and the Society of Environmental convened a third annual event providing a look ahead at the issues and events that will define the year in the areas of environment and energy. That’s the focus of this edition of REWIND.

Africa’s Sahel region is one of the most harsh environments on the planet with one of the highest birth rates as well. Food security, particularly when combined with population dynamics and the impact of climate change, is a monumental challenge. The Wilson Center’s Roger-Mark De Souza just returned from Niger, where he met with experts from a variety of countries for the purpose of identifying what works and what doesn’t. We discuss what he learned in this edition of Wilson Center NOW.

Population and the environment are clearly linked, but it’s not a simple equation of fewer people = fewer problems. Roger-Mark DeSouza, director of population, environmental security, and resilience for the Wilson Center, draws the line between population and every other important issue currently facing humans — climate change, urban development, global politics, poverty, the gender gap, and more — in this in-depth interview.

According to author, journalist, and professor Alan Weisman everyone “is addicted to energy and food,” and more people equals resources stretched beyond capacity. In this Context interview about his new book, Weisman tackles the big issue of population growth and the one x-factor he believes holds the key to a sustainable future.

As part of its Silver Bullet series, Newsweek Magazine spoke to Roger-Mark De Souza about population growth and climate change. On the one hand, De Souza told Newsweek, population growth inevitably impacts how vulnerable a community, state, or country is to climate change. And yet, he said, climate policies and initiatives rarely take population issues, like voluntary access to reproductive health services and family planning, into consideration.

This summer, a comprehensive report found that environmental organizations and agencies have yet to break down the 12-16% “green ceiling” for recruiting and retaining people of color to their staff. At a panel discussion of the Green 2.0 report held at the National Press Club, ECSP Director Roger-Mark De Souza said, ““Diversity of perspective, of approach, of experience, matters. That difference makes all the difference.”

As part of the Fall 2014 Haiti Dialogue Series organized by the Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program, Roger-Mark de Souza joined a group of faculty, researchers, students and policymakers to discuss the latest research linking climate change, natural hazards, development and fragility in Haiti.

Population growth is speeding toward a number between 10 and 12 billion humans by the end of the century. That rate of growth makes the challenge of building a sustainable future a daunting task. But important research presented in a new book, “World Population and Human Capital in the 21st Century,” suggests that population growth projections overlook one crucial variable that could prove to be the ultimate game changer